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Position statement on cancer and the environment

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THE WAR AGAINST CANCER. We are about half-way in the war against cancer. ... It's outrageous that manufacturers of some baby bottles are exposing little ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Position statement on cancer and the environment


1
Position statement on cancer and the environment
  • DR CARL ALBRECHT
  • HEADRESEARCH
  • CALBREC_at_IAFRICA.COM
  • Cancer Association of South Africa (CANSA)
  • 4th June 2008

2
THE WAR AGAINST CANCER
  • We are about half-way in the war against cancer.
  • It could last another 50 years
  • The biggest problems are
  • Lack of specific therapy
  • Cancer spread throughout the body
  • Lack of insight into the causes of breast and
    prostate cancers
  • Behavioural change
  • STATISTICS
  • 12.3 million new cases in 2007
  • 7.65 million deaths in 2007
  • 4.65 million survivors
  • 37 survival world-wide
  • About 100 000 new cases p.a. in South Africa
  • About 60 000 deaths p.a. in South Africa
  • 40 survival
  • Survival in U.S. is now 65

About 21 000 people die of cancer every
day Worldwide more people die of cancer than of
AIDS, TB and malaria combined. In South Africa 6
die of AIDS for every 1 cancer death
3
More than 90 of cancers are caused by
environmental factors. This is very good news
because it means that the vast majority of
cancers can be prevented
4
ROLE OF CANSA AGAINST CANCER
  • Vaccination hepatitis New drug
    development Patient care
  • Pap smears Survivor care
  • Health promotion
  • Focus on Environmental molecules

5
CAUSES OF CANCER
  • CANSAs view
  • According to Doll
  • Tobacco 29-31
  • Diet 20-50
  • Infections 10-20
  • UV light (melanoma) 5-7
  • Occupation 2-4
  • Pollution 1-5
  • Physical inactivity 1-2
  • Sir Richard Doll
  • Tobacco 29-31
  • Diet 15
  • Infections 10-20
  • UV light (melanoma) 5-7
  • Occupation 2-4
  • Pollution 10-20
  • Physical inactivity 1-2

6
WHAT IS MEANT BY POLLUTION?
7
Many pollutants can end up in drinking water
8
CANSA TARGET LIST
LCMS analytical apparatus at the University of
Stellenbosch
  • Trans fats
  • Bisphenol A
  • Acrylamide
  • Plasticizers
  • Dioxin
  • Cadmium
  • Uranium
  • Smoke
  • Drinking water

9
TRANS FATTY ACIDS
  • Made inadvertently
  • Man-made during conversion of vegetable oil to
    margarine by industrial hydrogenation.
  • CIS-bond converted to a TRANS-bond
  • Proven relationship with coronary heart disease
  • Association with breast cancer
  • Association with prostate cancer
  • Contribute more to body weight than unsaturated
    fats.

CIS
TRANS
SATURATED
10
WORLD REACTION TO TRANS FATS
  • Banned in Denmark since 2003
  • Contents of food displayed on label since January
    1st 2006 in U.S.
  • Not present in UNILEVER margarines such as
    FLORA, RAMA and STORK and SPAR margarine.
  • WOOLWORTHS does nor sell food containing
    partially hydrogenated plant oils.
  • South African legislation written, published last
    year but not made law yet. Please !!!

CANSA will have all margarines tested
independently for trans fat contents and this
information will be posted on the CANSA website.
11
BISPHENOL A
  • On 18 th April 2008 Canadian Government bans
    polycarbonate baby bottles because one of the
    ingredients Bisphenol A- is declared toxic and
    55-times more is released from bottles into hot
    water vs cold water.
  • Bisphenol A (BPA) is man-made and has hormonal
    activity similar to estrogen but is used
    extensively to make polycarbonate and epoxy
    resins.
  • BPA disturbs biological processes at very low
    concentrations. As little as 2 micrograms in a
    kilogram, i.e. 2 ppb. It is linked to breast
    cancer.
  • Nevertheless FDA and EPA in U.S. continue to
    peg the so-called safe level 25-fold higher e.g.
    50 micrograms/kg body weight per day

Could Bisphenol A be causing breast cancer?
12
WORLD REACTION TO BISPHENOL A
  • .
  • We know a womens lifetime risk of breast
    cancer is directly linked to her lifetime
    exposure to estrogen both natural and synthetic
    estrogen. Its outrageous that manufacturers of
    some baby bottles are exposing little girls to
    BPA, a synthetic plasticizer that mimics
    estrogen, and possibly increasing that little
    girls risk of breast cancer later in life,
    especially when safe alternatives are available.
  • Janet Nudelman, Director, Program and Policy for
    the Breast Cancer Fund.
  • BPA alone is worth at least a million dollars
    every hour.
  • University of Missouri Wade Welshons, in
    Tackling Plastics Toxic Health Threat,
    DISCOVER, May 2008, pg 51
  • If I were a pregnant woman, I would try hard to
    avoid exposure to BPA
  • Randy Jirtle, Duke University geneticist
    (DISCOVER, May, 2008, pg 50).

13
PLASTICIZERS
  • Man-made chemicals used to make hard plastic
    softer and more sticky.
  • Chemicals known as DEHP and DEHA.
  • Used to make cling wrap from PVC.
  • Used to wrap articles including food.
  • Found to migrate from the plastic into fatty food
    like cheese and meat especially at high
    temperatures in the microwave oven.
  • Found to cause cancer in mice and rats
  • Found to interact with master genes in living
    cells e.g. affecting the brain
  • Major man-made contaminant in ground water

CANSA analysis of cling wraps
14
CANSA RECOGNISES GLAD WRAP WHO IS DOING IT
RIGHT?
15
ACRYLAMIDE
  • Man-made chemical formed spontaneously in
    carbohydrate food at high temperature, especially
    potato crisps and coffee
  • Considered to be a probable human carcinogen
  • Strongly associated with renal cancers
  • Associated with post-menopausal endometrial and
    ovarian cancer
  • Neurotoxic

The big public question is whether the amount of
acrylamide in foods is enough to lead to cancer?
16
DIOXIN
  • Some of the most toxic chemicals known.
  • Formed during the burninh of PVC and bleaching of
    paper fibres.
  • Group 1 carcinogen according to IARC
  • Fat soluble. Take 8 years for 50 to exit body.
  • Causes mutations.
  • Teratogen.
  • Recently used as a poison against President
    Viktor Yushchenko of the Ukraine.
  • He suffered from a form of persistent acne known
    as chloracne

17
CADMIUM URANIUM
  • By-products of gold mining on the Westrand in
    Gauteng
  • Waterways of the Wonderboomspruit Catchment
    contaminated
  • About 400 000 people living in this area down to
    Carltonville
  • CANSA asked to investigate possible cancer
    hazzard
  • Cadmium is a wellknown cumulative carcinogen
  • Uranium, if taken up, is bound in the skeleton
    where it can form osteosarcomas over long periods

18
SMOKE
  • Smoke contains PAHs (Poly-aromatic-hydrocarbons)
  • Some such as benzapyrene are extremely
    carcinogenic and cause lung cancers
  • Benzapyrenes are also found in wood smoke, coal
    smoke and cars exhaust fumes
  • Millions of South Africans are exposed to one or
    more of these forms of smoke and the cancer
    threat still needs to be ascertained
  • Smoke should be avoided at all times

19
ASBESTOS
  • Exposure can cause mesothelioma
  • There are abandoned asbestos mines
  • Asbestos has been used in building materials that
    are now getting old
  • CANSA needs to ascertain the extent of asbestos
    threats in South Africa today

20
DRINKING WATER
  • Dozens of chemicals may be found in water that
    are carcinogens
  • Modern technology makes it possible to detect and
    measure the quantity of these chemicals.
  • CANSA will outsource the testing of drinking
    water from 8 cities in South Africa.
  • The water will come from buildings in which CANSA
    is housed.
  • Results will be posted periodically on the CANSA
    website.

21
CANSA HOPES THAT THIS NEW INITIATIVE WILL HELP TO
REDUCE THE BURDEN OF CANCER in SOUTH AFRICA
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